Caliph

Stopped in for a drink. What a friendly and personable place. Hopefully, when you go Stewart is your bartender for great service.

I so love this place. Come here every time I’m in Hillcrest. Great cover bands. Great crowd. Dustin is the bombies bartender. Mad props to Caliph’s

Great bar service, awesome drinks, and there’s always food around. Why not 5 stars? Because the karaōke guy is a huge tool.
Me and about 10 other friends came by for karaōke at around 11:30. We walk up to the karaōke guy and put a request in. He says he’s not accepting anymore requests for the evening because he’d rather let the same other 6 people in the bar hog the machine for the next 2 hours until closing time. His loss. He could have made some money if he wasn’t so concerned about power tripping over the microphone.

I love this place. They have a very diverse cliental. I love that they have karaōke four nights a week.

LOL… funniest story of my life. SD July 4^th weekend was just full of hilarious stories for me and my friends.
It was my friend’s bday, and as amazing friends, our mission was to EFF him up until he didn’t remember anything. So AM to PM, we were feeding him drinks. (we were being safe do not worry). So before the night ended and before returning to our hotel, we wanted to stop at a nearby bar to get him one more drink.
As we entered everyone welcomed us to come in and one guy brought us all drinks. They were super friendly. But once we entered, we realized it wasn’t the young hipster bar we were aiming for. The men in the bar ALL came up and asked why we youngsters were in the «wrinkle room» HAHAHA the things we stumble upon. They asked each of us if we were gay/​lesbian and we all said «nope» and everyone chuckled at how we ended up at Caliph. Nonetheless, everyone and the performers wished my friend a happy birthday and chatted things up with us. They were super friendly.
A quick drink turned into 5 drinks for my dear friend. Happy Bday, Cavin. Thanks Caliph for an unexpected surprise.

I don’t know if this a dive bar or a lounge bar or what. It’s small and old so you think dive, but it’s very clean and full of really nice people. The drinks are made just right, a lot better than a lot of downtown bars that pour lightly.
Last night Kevin was playing and singing and he was great! I used to work with him years ago in Escondido and I’ve heard him many times and he really is fantastic.
I’ve seen from the exterior that they may have a rear patio, but I’m not sure it they do and or how to access it.
Considering I now live across the street I’m sure I’ll be in more often.

We ordered the 2 for 1 Cheeseburger on tuesday. Surprisingly nummy for one of the diviest dives I’ve ever dove. They also gave nice little plastic shot glasses for their togo mayo and ketchup and stuffs… NICE. Nice and tasty.

Great neighborhood feel. Friendly staff and regulars. Karaōke nights at around 11:30 rock with a festive and convivial atmosphere!

I’ve always seen the Caliph building but never knew what it actually was until I stumbled outside its doors. The service here is good and drinks are descent. The layout is small and the atmosphere is dimmed for a more private touch. However, I cannot help but notice the smell when I walked in here. It was not pleasant. Prices are ok but I don’t find anything special that I would recommend to anyone. If anything, Caliph is your hole in the wall run downed dive gay bar. Overall, I don’t think Caliph is a bad spot but it’s not a good one either. If you’re looking to get away from the hustle and busy Hillcrest gay bars, then I would say this is a good alternative. Otherwise, I’d move along to something else.

Ok, my boyfriend and best friend and I were staying at the Inn at the Park right across the street from here. We’d spent the day at the Bing Crosby Season Opening Day at the Del Mar Racetrack. We’d spent a lot of time and money on Über and Lyft taxi’s already and were not at all interested in taking yet another. We wanted to get ourselves somewhere on foot.
I busted out my Unilocal app to find the closest place, and this looked to be more fun than the Mexican place, Jimmy Carter’s. Away we went!
We were also in serious need of food. We got to Caliph and found out immediately that they were not serving food at that time. So, against all good judgement, I suggest we have one drink and then figure out what to do.
This turns into spending the whole night there and we ordered pizza to be delivered to the bar. My friend randomly runs into her mom’s best friend’s son, who tells us «You know this is an Over 50 Gay Bar, right?» No, we didn’t (well we had a pretty good idea early on, but I didn’t read any reviews when I Unilocaled it, I just saw that it was close and thought we could eat and drink there) but that sure explained why we had such a fantastic time!
By the end of the night, we were down several drinks, one delivery from Domino’s Pizza that we shared with the bar, met and talked with a very amusing cast of characters and had some drama of our own. Good times.

Cheap Drinks. Fun Vintage Décor. Fun live Music. VERY Handsome and funny bartender. A great place to grab a cocktail with a girlfriend (or guy) and enjoy some show tunes.

This is a GAY MAN’s BAR.
It is a fun place to go if you are gay. They have karaōke on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays. Mike M is there Sundays and Mondays, Mike S is on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Great bartenders and Gina is a great cook. To bad some of the patrons are straight.
HAPPY PRIDE WEEK!!! And this is not a dive, It is a lounge and dam good one at that. Sherman is the owner and a friendly guy and is has made this lounge a great one.

Great very nice and cold a/​c dark bar… good for gay and ungay. Bartenders are GREAT! Just started food… um, y? Best bartender GUY! and if he’s sill there, Stewart rocks! Used to have great food, stopped, and now starting again… kind of, but not really. Outdoor pool table used to be fun too, but now covered all the time! pllleeeaaassseee uncover!

I guess the drinks are cheap. Not a fan… looked dirty and raggedy.

Unfortunately this establishment needs to review it’s employees. The bartender on Friday nights is rude and does things that could very well get the establishment sued. I am dismayed that such behavior is tolerated. Likewise, one of the Karaōke host is beyond crass in his comments to patron’s. We know this is a gay club, but they do have a certain amount of straight patron’s and we do expect to have our girlfriends and/​or wives respected. The remarks are simply bordering on sexist, offensive and utterly irresponsible. The bar could be a good place to socialize if these issues were rectified.

This place has such a kitschy cool vibe.
Highlights:
+Cheap drinks
+Intimate atmosphere
+50’s décor
+Dive bar feel (lots of character)
+Blue Velvet (Duwop band — so random but cool)
+Everyone is super friendly, bartenders and patrons alike.

Do not waist your time and money to go this dump place
Bartender unfriendly
Cocktail expenses n very weak
Customer most straight people
To bad, this bar was a great place to go NOW it is just a Dump S… t. Hole

I have been patronizing this place off and on for over 25 years. It was my «go to» place when Number 1 on 5^th gets packed out. It’s an old school gay bar that reminds me of the 50’s décor wise. It’s pretty simple and they have some decent house wines (I can’t beer much any longer) that they are more than happy to overfill. Who doesn’t love popcorn? I love bartenders too who are quick to serve and ask you if you want popcorn. Some nights are a little rough though, I went in here with my husband the other night and was over charged (12.00 for a house wine and a Sprite) I kind of got the impression that the bartender didn’t want straight couples in there on that night. Whatever, we sat there and chit chatted and watched some bad CNN special and left without ordering another drink. The conversation I was accidentally overhearing was too much for my old delicate ears anyhow.
My husband and I came in here another time before a boring stuffy holiday party and drank up some cheap beers, there was a great crowd in the house that night. Love the lounge lizard music!
Fun place, cheap sandwiches on Saturdays and POPCORN! woo whoooo! I bet the drinks aren’t the only thing that are stiff at this place. Just a guess.

Every time Monkey would say the name of this bar I would giggle… yeah my humour is that of a 12 year old boy.
We stumbled upon this bar last night walking home from the SausageFest. My friends go here often but I was a virgin. What… there was gay bar that I had not been to???
Great place love the piano action going down as everyone was gathered. The patrons were very friendly and the drinks were good I’m sure… yeah, don’t remember since this was our 4^th stop. I do remember our awesome bartender, a little cutie.
The patio in the back is very comfy, I can see myself hanging out here in the future.

I woke up this morning, logged onto Unilocal and was quickly reminded to write a review of Caliph based on my check-​in from this weekend. I stared at my computer screen for a minute or two and gathered my thoughts. When the hell did I go to Caliph?! The more I thought about it the memories started flooding in and I had to pat myself on the back. Why? Because not only had I made it to Caliph after all these years of driving or walking by, but I made it there twice in one day…
Disclaimer: I love gay bars. I am not gay, but damn they’re a blast!
Our first visit was to dip in and do a shot while walking to meet some friends for dinner. Mission accomplished. We took a quick look around and knew we would be back sooner than later. Don L was already on the piano doing his thing and would be there all night… he’s classic!
After dinner we headed straight back over and settled in on the patio. We met a guy named Sporty who was wearing a woman’s tank top and he told us stories of crashing motorcycles and running away from the old folks home. Dustin the bartender would occasionally come out to check on us and mixes a mean cocktail. Don L kept the tunes pumpin’ and offered up chips and Pace Picante salsa to the crowd. He brought it from his house — it was left over from a party he had the night before… duh.
Fun place, interesting crowd with stiff drinks. My kind of bar… well kinda.